The present invention relates to levelling out of interference in a mobile network using the hopping method.
In mobile communications systems, mobile stations and base stations are capable of setting up connections using the so-called radio interface channels. Various requirements, depending on the type of data involved, are imposed on such connections relating to the data transmission rate, the accuracy of the data, and transmission delay.
A specific frequency range is always allocated for use by the mobile network. This frequency range is subdivided into channels whose transmission capacity is optimised to match the services provided by the mobile network. To ensure sufficient capacity within the limited frequency range allocated for the mobile network, the channels available must be re-used. For this purpose, the system coverage area is divided into cell consisting of the coverage areas of the individual base stations, which is why such systems are often also referred to as cellular radio systems.
Through the radio connection, mobile stations have access to the services provided by the mobile network. FIG. 1 outlines the structure of a known mobile network system. The network includes a number of inter-connected Mobile Services Switching Centres MSC. A mobile services switching centre MSC is capable of setting up connections with other mobile services switching centres MSC or other telecommunications networks, such as the Integrated Services Digital Network ISDN, the Public Switched Telephone Network PSTN, the Internet, the Packet Data Network PDN, the Asynchronous Transfer Mode ATM and the General Packet Radio Service GPRS. Each mobile services switching centre has several base station controllers BSC connected to it. Similarly, each base station controller is connected to several base stations. The base stations are capable of setting up connections with mobile stations MS. The Network Management System NMS is used for collecting data on the network and re-programming the network elements.
The air interface between the base stations and mobile stations can be divided into channels in a number of different ways. Known methods include at least Time Division Multiplexing TDM, Frequency Division Multiplexing FDM, and Code Division Multiplexing CDM. In TDM systems, the allocated bandwidth is divided into sequential time-slots. A specific number of sequential time-slots constitute a periodically recurring time frame. The channel is defined by the time slot used in the time frame. In FDM systems the channel is defined by the frequency used, and in CDM systems by the frequency-hopping pattern or hashing code. Various combinations of the division methods described above can also be used.
FIG. 2 provides an example of a known FDM/TDM division. In the figure, the vertical axis represents frequency and the horizontal axis time. The allocated frequency range is divided into six frequencies denoted by F1 through F6. In addition, the frequency channel consisting of each individual frequency is sub-divided into recurring time frames made up of 8 sequential time-slots. The channel is always defined by the pair (F, TS), where F is frequency and TS is the time-slot, used in the time frame.
To maximize capacity, the channels must be re-used in cells that are located as close to one another as possible, providing, however, that the quality of the connections using the channels remains adequate. The quality of the connection is affected by the sensitivity of the transmitted information to the transmission errors occurring in the radio channel and the quality of the radio channel. Resilience against signal transmission errors depends on the properties of the information being transferred and can be improved by processing the information by means of channel coding and interleaving before the data are sent and by using re-transmission of erroneous transmission frames.
The quality of the radio channel is, in particular, affected by the extent of mutual interference caused by the connections, which, in turn, depends on the channels used by the connections, the geographical distribution of the connections, and the transmission power used. These factors can be influenced by a systematic allocation of the channels to the various cells with due regard to such interference, by regulating the transmission power, and by averaging the interference experienced by the various connections.
Even if channel allocation is successful, different connections are exposed to different levels of interference. As a result, some connections may suffer from interference that severely affects their quality while other connections could, at the same time, tolerate a higher level of interference. A channel may be allocated, if the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by the connections set up for the channel involved falls below a predefined limit for only a small percentage (e.g. 5 percent), of the connections. If the fluctuations in the level of interference between various connections can be reduced, the said quality of connection can be achieved at a denser re-use rate of the channel, which increases system capacity.
Known methods for levelling out relative interference between connections include frequency hopping, used in the FDM systems, and time-slot hopping, used in the TDM systems. These and other methods based on channel alteration will be collectively referred below as channel hopping methods. In CDM systems, differences in interference between connections can be suppressed by using hashing codes of sufficient diversity. However, in this method, all the connections make use of the same frequency, which increases average cross-interference considerably.
With frequency hopping, the frequency used by the connection keeps changing at short intervals. Thus, the transmission frequency serves as the hopping quantity. The methods can be divided into slow and fast frequency hopping. In fast frequency hopping, the connection frequency is changed more often than the carrier wave frequency. In slow frequency hopping, the connection frequency is changed less often than the carrier wave frequency.
For example, in the known GSM system, frequency hopping is implemented so that an individual burst is always transmitted at one frequency and the burst in the following time-slot at another. As a result, an individual burst can be subjected to a high level of interference. Thanks to channel coding and interleaving, the required quality of connection can be achieved by ensuring that a sufficiently high percentage of the bursts are transmitted free of significant interference. With frequency hopping, this requirement can be satisfied specifically for each individual connection, even if some of the bursts were subjected to major interference.
FIG. 3 provides an illustration of a frequency-hopping arrangement with the frequencies used for the various bursts. Four frequencies, F1 through F4, are allocated for use by the cell. The hopping pattern is cyclic in that the cell transmits the sequential bursts at the frequencies F4, F2, F3, and F1 in that particular order and that this cycle is repeated once completed. Because the length of the cycle is 4 bursts, a single connection in a system using eight time-slot frames shown as an example in FIG. 2 uses the same frequency only for every fourth burst. As a result, the fadings occurring in the connection between the mobile station and the base station are averaged over the individual connections. With frequency hopping, the best levelling-out performance for interference is achieved when the frequency-hopping patterns used by cells close to one another are mutually independent. This is achieved by employing carefully selected cyclic or pseudo-random frequency-hopping patterns.
In time-slot hopping, the hopping quantity is the TDMA frame time-slot used for the connection. FIG. 4 illustrates a time-slot hopping pattern where the signal is transmitted in sequential frames in time-slots 1, 4, 0, and 6, after which the cycle is repeated. To achieve the best possible performance, the hopping patterns used in time-slot hopping must also be mutually independent in cells close to one another.
To maximize the benefits offered by the hopping methods, steps must be taken to optimise the hopping pattern. Dynamic determination of the frequencies used for hopping is the best-known method.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,954 (Emi) describes a frequency-hopping method for wideband telecommunications systems where frequency is changed according to a pre-determined hashing code. This method monitors errors in the received data and calculates the number of errors detected at a given hopping frequency. When the number of errors at a given hopping pattern frequency exceeds a pre-determined limit, the frequency is changed to another frequency that is available at that particular moment.
In the method in accordance with the said publication, the set of frequencies in the frequency-hopping pattern is essentially changed as a function of the errors detected. However, the frequencies in the frequency set are used equally.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,433 (Bantz et al.) describes a method for controlling and performing frequency-hopping operations. Specifically, the invention introduced in the publication relates to the determination of the frequency-hopping pattern, detection of interference, and changing of the frequency-hopping pattern. Frequency hopping is defined in terms of a set of hopping frequencies and a hopping code controlling the use of the frequencies, of which only the set of hopping frequencies is modified. The frequencies are used equally.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,049 (Dent) describes a method for increasing interference diversity by using staggered delays between frequency hops in the neighbouring base stations. The frequency used for the link between the mobile station and the base station changes according to a pseudo-random hopping pattern following uniform usage distribution.
The number of users in the mobile networks and the use of applications requiring wide bandwidths, such as multimedia applications, are growing rapidly. Consequently, the volume of information transmitted in the system increases, causing a higher average level of interference within the system. As a result, more stringent requirements are being imposed on methods to level out interference, and the prior art methods developed for this purpose are no longer capable of providing the required performance.
The aim of the present invention is to resolve the problem described above. This is accomplished by means of the method described in the independent patent claims.
The idea of the invention is to optimize the levelling-out of interference by adjusting the usage distribution of the hopping states. Usage distribution is not necessarily uniform; instead, the various hopping states have varying usage rates in the hopping pattern. In other words, some hopping states are used more frequently than others.
Preferably, the distribution of the hopping states is determined by minimizing a pre-defined penalty function. For example, optimum distribution can be measured based on network geometry, predicted or measured field strengths, and traffic data.
Once the usage distribution of the frequencies is determined, it is possible to determine the frequency-hopping patterns for the connection to be used. The higher the probability that a frequency will be used for a given connection, as defined by the optimization, the more frequently a frequency is used in the hopping sequence.
When used for fixed channel allocation, the invention provides a frequency planning scheme used to allocate frequency distributions and the hopping sequences for their implementation to the transceivers in the cell. In the case of dynamic allocation, the invention provides a method for dynamically changing the distribution of frequencies available for the connections in the cell involved and for defining the hopping sequences.